the president's energy strategy she calls all of the above. the boom in oil and gas production combined with greater energy auto knish ensee as driven oil imports to a near 20-year low and natural gas production to all-time high. and renewable energy production has doubled. of course, we need a lot more new jobs. but there are already more than three million jobs open and unfilled in america. mostly because the people who apply for them don't yet have the required skills to do them. so even as we get americans more jobs we have to prepare more americans for the new jobs that are actually going to be created. the old economy is not coming back we've got to build a new one and educate people to do those jobs. [ applause ]

the president and education secretary supported community colleges and employers in working together to train people for jobs that are actually open in their community. even more important after a decade in which exploding college costs have increased the prop out -- drop out rate so much that the percentage of our young people with four year college degrees has gone down so much that we have dropped to 16th in the world. in the percentage of young people with college degrees. the president student loan reform is more important than ever. here's what it does. you need to tell every voter about this, it lowers the cost of federal student loans and even more important, it gives students the right to repay

those loans as a clear fixed low percentage income for up to 20 years. [ applause ] now, what does this mean? think about it. it means no one will ever have to drop out of college again for fear they can't repay their debt. and it means that if someone wants to take a job with a modest income, teacher, police officer, if they want to be a small town doctor in a little rural area, they won't have to turn those jobs down because they don't pay enough to repay the debt. their debt obligation will be determined by their salary, this will change the future for young americans! [ applause ]

all these issues i know we're better off because president obama made the decisions he did. now, that brings me to health care. the republicans call it derisive leo bama care. they say it's a government fay over, a disaster if we just elect them they will repeal it. well, are they right? let's take a look at what's actually happened so far. first, individuals and businesses have already gotten more than a billion dollars in refunds from insurance companies because requires 80 to 85% of your premium to go to your health care not profits or promotions. [applause]

and the -- bunch of insurance companies have applied to lower their rate to comply with the requirements. second, more than three million young people between 19 and 25 are insured for the first time because their parents' policy can cover them. third, millions of seniors are receiving preventive care all the way from breast cancer screenings to test for heart problems and scores of other things, younger people are getting them, too. fourth, soon the insurance companies not the government, the insurance companies, will have millions of new customers, many of them middle class people with preexisting conditions who never could get insurance before. now, finally, listen to this, for the last two years after

going up at the three times of rate of inflation for a decade for the last two years health care costs have been under 4% in both years for the first time in 50 years. [ applause ] let me ask you something. are we better off because president obama fought for health care reform? you bet we are. there were two other attacks on the president in tampa, i think deserve an answer. first, both governor romney and congressman ryan attacked the president for allegedly robbing medicare. $760 million. same tax leveled against congress in 2010 they got a lot of votes on it. but it's not true.

look, here's what really happened. you be the judge. here is what really happened. there were no cuts to benefit at all, none. what the president did was to save money by taking a recommendations of a commission of professionals to cut unwarranted subsidies to providers and insurance companies that were not making people healthier and were not necessary to get the providers to provide the service. and instead of raiding medicare he used the savings to close the donut hole in the medicare drug program. [ applause ] and y'all got to listen carefully to this. this street really important. to add eight years to the life of the medicare trust fund so it is solid until 2024.

so, president obama and the democrats didn't weaken medicare, they strengthened medicare. now when congressman ryan looked in to that tv camera and attacked president obama's medicare savings as, quote, the biggest coldest power play, i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. because that $760 million is exactly who these dollars, the same amount of medicare savings that he had in his own budget. you got to get one thing it takes some brass to attack a guy

for doing what you did. [ applause ] this is getting serious i want you to listen. it's important. a lot of people believe this stuff. now at least on this issue, this one issue, governor romney has been consistent. he attacked president obama, too. but he actually wants to repeal those savings and give the money back to the insurance companies. he wants to go back to the old system which means we reopen the

donut hole and force seniors to pay more for drugs. and we'll reduce the life of the medicare trust fund by eight full years. so, if he's elected and if he does what he promised to do, medicare will now go broke in 2016. think about that. that means after all we won't have to wait until our voucher kicks in in 2023 to zoo the of medicare as we know it. they're going to do it to us sooner than we thought. folks, this is serious, because it gets worse. and you won't be laughing when i finish telling you this. they also want to block grant medicaid and cut it by a third over the coming ten years. of course that's going to really

hurt a lot of poor kids. but that's not all. lot of folks don't know it but nearly two-thirds of medicaid is spent on nursing home care for medicare seniors who are eligible for medicaid. it's going to end medicare as we know it. and a lot of that money is also spent to help people with disabilities including a lot of middle class families whose kids have down's syndrome or autism or other severe conditions. and honestly, think about it, if that happens i don't know what those families are going to do. i know what i'm going to do, i'm going to do everything i can to see that it doesn't happen, we can't let this happen.

[ applause ] wait a minute. let's look at the other big charge the republicans made. it's a real doozy. they actually have charged and run ads saying that president obama wants to weaken the work requirements in the welfare reform bill that i signed moving people from welfare to work. you need to know here's what happened. nobody ever tells you what really happened, here's what happened. when some republican governors ask if they can have wafers to

try new ways to put people on welfare back to work, obama administration listened, because we all know hard nor even people with good work history to get jobs, moving folks from welfare to work is a real challenge. and the administration agreed to give waivers to those only if they had credible plan to increase employment by 20% and they could keep the waivers only if they did increase employment. now, did i make myself clear? the requirement was for more work not less. so, this is personal to me. we move millions of people off welfare. it was one of the reasons that in the eight years i was president we had 100 times as many people move out of poverty in to middle class than happened

under the previous 12 years. 100 times as many. it's a big deal. but i am telling you the claim that president obama weakened welfare reform work requirement is just not true. but they keep on running ads claiming it. you want to know why? their campaign posters said, we are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers. [ applause ] finally i can say, that is true. i cooperate have said it better myself. and i hope you and every american within the sound of my voice remembers it every time

they see one of those ads and it turns in to an ad to re-elect barack obama and keeps the fundamental purposes of work empowerment as soon as we can. [ applause ] let's talk about the debt. today interest rates are lower, lower than the rate of inflation, people are basically paying us to borrow money. but it will become a big problem when the economy grows and interest rates start to rise. we got to deal with this big long term debt problem or it will deal with us. it will gobble up a bigger and bigger percentage of the federal budget we'd rather spend on education and healthcare and science and technology. we got to deal with it. now, what has the president done? he has offered a reasonable plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over a decade.

with 2.5 trillion coming from in spending cuts raises a dollar in new revenue. two and a half to one. and he has hiked controls on future spending that is kind of balanced approach proposed by the sim tons bowls commission. i think this man is way better than governor romney's plan. first, the romney plan fails the first test of fiscal responsibility. the numbers just don't add up. i mean, consider this, what would you do if you had this problem. we got a big debt problem we got to reduce the debt. what's the first thing? to reduce the debt we're going to have another $5 trillion in tax cuts. heavily weighted to upper income people. make the debt hole bigger before we start to get out of it.

now when you say, what are you going to do about this $5 trillion you just added none they say, we'll make it up by eliminating loopholes in the tax code. then you ask, well, which loopholes and how much? you know what they say? see me about that after the election. i'm not making it up. that's their position. see me about that after the election. now people ask me all the time, how we got four star plus budgets in a row. what new ideas did we bring to washington? i always give a one word answer. arithmetic. [ applause ]

in a debt reduction plan, the arithmetic tells us no matter what they say, one of three things is about to happen. one, assuming they try to do what they say they will do, cutting those deductions, one, they will have to eliminate so many deductions like the ones for home mortgages and charitable giving that middle class families will see their tax bills go up an average of $2,000 while anybody who makes $3 million or more will see their tax bill go down $250,000. or, two, they will have to cut so much spending that they will obliterate the budget for the national parks for insuring clean wear, clean water, safe air travel. cut way back on pel grants,

early childhood education, child nutrition programs, all the programs that help to empower middle class families and help poor kids. cut back on investments in roads and bridges and science and technology and biomedical research. that's what they will do. they will hurt the middle class and the poor and put the future on hold to give tax cuts to upper income people who have been getting it all along. or, three, they will do what they have been doing for more than 30 years, go in cut the taxes way more than they cut spending, especially with that big defense increase, they will just explode the debt and weaken the economy. and they will destroy the federal government's ability to help you by letting interest gobble up all your tax payments. don't you ever forget when you hear them talking about this

that republican economic policies quadruple the national debt before i took office in the 12 years before i took office. [ applause ] and double the debt in the eight years after i left. because it defied arithmetic. it was highly inconvenient thing for them in our debates that i was just a country boy from arkansas and i came from a place where people thought two and two was four. it's arithmetic. we simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on trickle down. [ applause ]

think about this. president obama plans to cut the debt, honors our values, brightens the future of our children, our families and our nation. it's a heck of a lot better, it passes the arithmetic test and far more important, it passes the values test. [ applause ] my fellow americans, all of us in this grand hall and everybody watching at home, when we vote in this election we'll be deciding what kind of country we want to live in. if you want a winner take all, you're on your own society, you should support the republican ticket. but if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility of we're all in this together society, you should vote for barack obama and

joe biden. [ applause ] if you want america, if you want every american to vote and you think it is wrong to change voting procedures -- just to reduce the turn out of younger minority and disabled supporters you should support barack obama. [ applause ] if you think the president was right to open the doors of american opportunity to all those young immigrants brought

here when they were young so they can serve in the military or go to college, you must vote for barack obama. [ applause ] if you want a future of shared prosperity with the middle class and poverty declining where the american dream is really alive and well again, and where the united states maintains its leadership as a force for peace and justice and prosperity in this highly competitive world, you have to vote for barack obama. [ applause ] i love our country so much. and i know we're coming back, for more than 200 years through every crisis we've always come back. people have predicted our demise ever since george washington was

criticized for being a mediocre surveyor with a bad set of wooden false teeth. and so far every single person that's bet against america has lost money because we always come back. we come through every fire a little stronger and a little better. and we do it because in the end we decide to champion the cause for which our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor. the cause of forming a more perfect union. my fellow americans, if that is what you want, if that is what you believe, you must vote and you must re-elect president barack obama! [ applause ] god bless you and god bless america! [ cheering and applause ] >> woodruff: president bill clinton 48 1/2 minutes of big

speech. 22nd president of the united states putting in to nomination and i think he -- here comes president obama. you can tell from the reaction -- nobody sitting down. >> ifill: what president clinton did he went down the list and took all out the main republican indictments of president obama and explained them in a way frankly we haven't heard from many others. >> woodruff: bill clinton back to give somebody else a

hug. and two of them are just greet knowledge everybody they know. and have a little heart to heart because bill clinton is making a very specific point. he had a case he wanted to make, he did it in a conversational way, talked about arithmetic and the budget. talking about welfare reform how unhappy he is about the republicans take on that. then pivoted to the choice that he says americans have to make. >> it was effective speech as always too long but effective. for a number of reasons, one, framing. as you said really good at crystallizing you're on your own versus we're all in it together. second, he invites you in, here's why you want to do it. third he takes policy seriously. we have not seen a lot this year and so there was ton of policy, mitt romney did not defend his policy in his speech and he left vacuum open for bill clinton to

walk right in, some of the parts i agree with on medicaid. some of the parts, but effective. >> strongest case i've heard. and in bill clinton's style, make it understandable like policy issues to the lay person. and did it in a way with emotion and with a passion and with an overarching theme that we're all in it together. make it individualism. >> woodruff: and with humor. let's go now down to the floor to ray. >> you know, part way through this speech president clinton referred to himself as a country boy from arkansas. but really he saw everything from risk of command to facts to breezy, funny folksy ev

evuncularity and the crowd kept responding he got looser can he smiled more, relaxed more, he was using his hands more then fed him more and he doubled down. the crowd, yes, you saw when you looked at the floor that they were standing when the president was done. they were standing for the last 25 minutes of his speech. they wanted what he was giving and they were already well primed by elizabeth warren, who also gave a stem winder, a manifesto of her wing of the democratic party's values that the crowd went wild for. very high energy last hour of the convention program. >> yes, indeed. president clinton was there to officially do it but now the mechanics of the nomination are moving forward. >> ifill: it's interesting you were saying the crowd was feeding him because i was thinking it was as if the crowd was hungry to hear from

president clinton. been such a build up for his speech and he delivered. >> ifill: say they fed off each other then. j it was call in response, it was him feeling them out and them giving him an energetic response which made him then amp it up a little bit more. >> one thing he did that i thought was fascinating as privileged on server having been president for eight years was to list the republican presidents who have made a positive difference in the national life and even in his life and totally worked, starting with dwight eisenhower sending federal troops to integrate little rock high school. hive changing. >> my inviting people in. he knows who he has to persuade he knows who the jury is going to make prosecutorial phase. >> ifill: we talked about,

pointing out eisenhower behind highway system my favorite line probably when he found his way to get at paul ryan by saying, it takes some brass to attack something that you did. a guy for doing what you did -- >> always with clinton he's selecting the facts very carefully. medicare thing he counts the 760 billion twice. you can't spend money twice. but it's a campaign speech, he's slippery. some of the stuff he got corrected, medicaid. it's where the democrats talk about the romney medicaid plan. lot of medicare, there are more vulnerable. he understands where that hits them. >> woodruff: so many quotable lines, one of the things i wrote down when he went back the last 52 years he said, republicans have been in the white house nor 28 years, democrats 24. during that time there have been 66 million private sector jobs created. the democrats -- republicans have created 24 million.

just guess how many, 42 million. bill clinton the kind of person who brings out those numbers. >> and then when he put his own presidency in to say, prior to -- 12 years prior to his coming to office the national debt tripled, quadrupled under republican presidents and doubled. bill clinton having produced four balanced budgets, only president since richard m. nixon. >> should be said that growing by a trillion dollars every year under president obama. one of the advantages that democrats have is they have plan to attack. republicans don't have a plan to attack how to balance the budget. >> how do you think the -- i've been looking apt twitter i haven't seen a lot of push back tonight. >> they have embraced bill clinton, becomes a little difficult.

they have been talking about bill clinton as one of their best buddy and defender of the free enterprise. >> ifill: about what he said about that. didn't remember it that way. >> they could tell welfare reform. >> i think it would be mistake to go after the facts they could get entangled. they tack about past four years, seen wealth go up, income go up, seen -- the stretch of the economy is still their core issue and they would be mistaken to go off that. >> woodruff: one other thing, this is president who reached across the aisle tried to work with republicans. republicans dispute that they say this hasn't happened. but bill clinton said, he appointed my wife.

>> ifill: what's fascinating, watching bill clinton back in his game is always worth watching. >> woodruff: now already hearing, seeing speculation how tough it's going to be for president obama to talk. >> i would say, two big features, michelle, clinton better than anything the republicans offer. >> ifill: we'll be back tomorrow night we'll follow next of this which is president barack obama. this ends our coverage of this second night of the democratic national convention. it is charlotte, north carolina, the convention has begun now the roll call of the states. we're going to leave you but you can watch the entire proceeding on our live stream. i'm gwenn ifill. >> woodruff: i'm judy woodruff. good night.

>> susie: i'm susie gharib with an "n.b.r." news brief. more worries about the global economy. the trigger this time came from fedex. the giant shipper issued a profit warning for the current quarter overnight, saying weakness in the global economy is reducing international shipments. that gloomy fedex forecast weighed on investors who are already stressed out about the sluggish world economy. the dow rose three points, but

the nasdaq lost five, and the s&p slipped almost two points. tomorrow, will the european central bank take action to help boost the eurozone? policymakers gather for a key meeting in frankfurt. we talk with strategist nick colas about what it means for u.s. investors. for more financial news, tune in to "n.b.r." weeknights on this public television station. dired

you do differently? >> well, i think that when we were preparing for the transition, we ksh and i think really if you look at it from the outgoing administration's perspective as well, in the early part of that process, the focus was on to some extent the transition with wars in iraq and afghanistan. we quickly got on to the economy. the process of building the work for building the recovery act was monumental and it occurred quite rapidly and i think the one question that i still wrestle with in my mind is, did -- we were in the process of doing a lot of different things and the repeat idaholy with which the recovery act went

through and sort of getting away from it i think didn't really help educate the public about what they were likely to experience and what the story line and narrative was. so we kind of -- the administration kind of moved on quickly to other priorities which we had prepared in the administration particularly the health care. in retrospect we didn't have good answers to the housing crisis and we didn't stay on that economic argument about job creation long enough really. >> charlie:back in a moment. stay with us krsmght we continuel analysis. john harris of politico and jeff disel any of the new york times. i'm meesed to of them here. where are we in terms of democratic party having a remarkable speech by the first lady and also mayor castro, bill

clinton will speak tonight before we do this. we can expect him to do what he always does, to lay out the choices and make the case for barack obama and tomorrow night the president speaks. someone said today if the rest of this convention as successful as the first lady's speech, the democrats come out of this on the march. >> that make sense to you? >> it does within limits. let's face it, there's really only two speeches sat these conventions that matter a lot, the nominee speeches. keynote addresses are useful. bill clinton is going to be entertaining probably helpful in making the kales. this is obama's convention. i do think it has been effective tort democrats they are only giving their answer to the charge we have been heard again and again speakers in tam

tampa. president obama gaf you didn't build t his point was everybody we built this together any successful person is successful because it's in the context of opportunity. republicans hammered him on that. i think what we're hearing from the first lady, from mayor castro. we're going to hear it from bill clinton they're answer. we believe in success, we also believe in prosperity, we are in favor of everybody getting rich but rerve has to together krrchght someone that was in the first lady's speech, if we are lucky and successful by hard work -- >> all these have been out there have been more owe fecttive than president obama often is in making this case. i think he often falls into language that sets him up for this character that really he is

hostile to free enterprise, not in favor of success or people having the opportunity to get rich. that's a widespread belief in the republican party, widespread belief of many businessment those who backed him in 2008. bill clinton never really faced that. he had a different language a-different way of making arguments that allowed him to favor progressive policies but not be seen as hostile to private success. >> charlie:why do you think that is, jim, if you agree with it. >> i'm not sure he's hostiles''s perfect soafd. if you talk to business people even those who supported him in 2008 and there is a long roster of people who gave money to him, inspired by him in 208 now are not with him, they think his background does not have anything in it that comes from the entrepreneurial side. he's largely been in the academic world and government

world. i'm not sure he is as antibusiness but allowed himself to be branded like that. one thing that's interesting about former president bill clinton i think john is absolutely right. he just has never had to face anything like that. he's able to -- his argument about the middle class is probably going to be the most effective sales pitch that this president can use for the next 60 days. if he was ahead or if he was sort of comfortable in this race, i don't think we would see bill clinton in such a marqued position. his argument he says it better than anyone else and aagree with john also. i think the first lady's speech was tw good as any like that could be. the hall absolutely loved t i think the president's speech on thursday night is really the only one that matters here. something would have to go terribly wrong with president clintons for it. >> charlie:what are the obama

people including the president and his campaign staff in chicago worried about? what is their fear at the end of the day? >> i think they're worried about what's going to happen friday morning. 9 hours after he finishes giving his acceptance speech, the latest job report comes out. there are things outside their immediate control that's one of them the three jobs reports that come out before election day. they're worried about the economy getting away from them and them not being able to keep this race stable. their main plan from here to the next 60 days is to cope things as stable as possible, keep hammering mitt romney on trying to win over this middle class argument. but if there's bad jobs report no. on friday, if things get worse in that respect, gas prices go up, these things out of the president's control that's a problem. if that race turns

psychologically and mitt romney gets in the driver's seat it will be hard to get back krrchlt how would you define what the choice the voters want to make. >> i think what voters who are unhappy with things right now are trying to think -- all the voter interviews we do they're not sure how big of a risk they want to take. they sort of know what president oa bama means for them and has done for them but they're not sure if they want to take a leap over to someone new, starting all over again at this. the obama. >> charlie:bird in hand thing. >> right the obama campaign would say that's risky. the romney would say not risky at all. if taw talk range of motion nim advise rors the convention last week was improving the connection with voters making him look for how many an real. now they have to go the next step and say what he would do. john is right. it's to fire him, hire him. i think everyone got the fire

part. the hire part is still in progress. >> charlie:they couldn't do it at their convention because they had to humanize him, they had to introduce him, which is remarkable because you saw that very good biography film of him which many people said should have been on the air a long time ago. >> right. >> charlie:that whole convention was more about him except for ryan's speech, introducing him -- >> i thought it was surprising omissioning, it's not my job to say whether it's a missed opportunity or not, there was not much policy -- >> charlie:is this election row mind you of any other? is it 2004? >> it's either 1980 or 2004. >> charlie:80 would be reagan. >> in many ways it's different than 2004 because national security is something we have not heard anything about. that's one of the things that's the most strike to go me. we're still not that far after

9-11 and it was absent from the republican convention. you can say if governor romney should have mentioned in his speech. beside that, it's not being discussed. if president obama wins, i think it looks like 2004. if he loses it locks like 1980. >> charlie:2004 was about towrnout. >> it was bush campaign maximummed their turn outeverywhere. similar strains obama is trying do organizing early states like ohio maximize and find new voters. 204 -- the ways. expand their voting pool over 2000. a lot of their supporters didn't show up. this is exactly about expanding the base. that's why you see so much voter registration going on. they're trying to draw new voters on to the obama side, african americans, latinos.

they're trying to make it like 2004. >> charlie:the romney people think they can minimize where the levels of women for obama is today? >> i don't think that they feel they can change that a lot but i do think -- this election isn't about moving large numbers of voters. >> charlie:is that where they think they have to change it? >> i think it is. they feel and i think the obama people wouldn't argue with this that the critical group of older white men are simply lost to obama. >> to romney. >> older white men. >> lost to the president. >> by the president. >> wives and daughters are willing still to entertain a vote for the president. >> charlie:i would assume the president would talk about foreign policy, wouldn't you. >> i would be stunned if he didn't. >> charlie:me too. not oam because of the contrast but they believe they are run ong a

record of success. >> he's the president of the united states. i think it would be irresponsible not to. >> i think it was shocking omission for romney. i thought fred hide's column in washington post was right on. we have a hot war going on right now in the month of august. i think close to 60 people, 60 americans died in afghanistan. >> charlie:did they have an explanation for that? >> the oam explanation he talked about it the day before in a speech in minneapolis. no one saw t most reporters didn't see. >> charlie:someone said one mention of afghanistan. >> i think that's right. it's not a popular topic even in that room con vengs with these delegates. spending is such a concern. too much money isn't spent on the war. it wouldn't have been a upon lar thing. i still think he could have thanked the troops for their

service. that's not controversial. that's a patriotic thing to do. i think it's one of those mysteries of the convention almost as mysterious as clint eastwood he's the only one that mentioned afghanistan on that final evening. >> charlie:how does that the obama team feel about rekindling of 2008. i heard we don't expect to weunder stand. it's much tougher race than 208 and they had a lot of things going for them in 208 they don't have in 2012 including the tenure in office. do they believe somehow they will be able to come out of this convention with a bit of a remembrance of that? >> i think jeff put it well, or phrase you used remembrance, oh yeah i remember why i like this guy. i don't think they're overly obsessed with rekindling 2008.

last couple of years there was internal dea bait and disagreement within the obama camp. how do we preserve obama brand. are we doing things that might risk it by being negative or super pac money those debates are put to rest. forget about the obama brand. do what'sness necessary to rin. a. >> a point we're make inning political, when you come to permanent attacks both campaigns responsible for negativity of the campaign. both equally to blame. when you talk about personal criticisms, basically trying to tear down the viability of the other candidate in the way that george w. bush inventory down john kerry's credibility, really it's pretty one one sided. the obama campaign does much more than that than the romney

campaign. >> charlie:successfully? >> i think fair suck set. >> charlie:primarily bain capital. >> bain capital with romney's. >> charlie:the theme i saw so much coming out of the speeches so far is that he's not like you. >> well he's not seen dramatically in the polls, 20 percent gap. krrchlt he doesn't care about you. he's not of you have. he doesn't understand you. that's the thing they hammer. >> it's a wide gap. if thre a hammering at it that means it's getting traction. >> try to close in tampa and i think we will see you in the polls next few weeks or so what success they have had. >> i think they're trying niek people por frightened about the prospect of romney presidency. some months ago democrats and he wouldn't do anything dramatic. trying to scare people in the

sense he wouldn't have your back, economic interest at heart. i was struck on the first night of the convention of the relentless attacks on his wealth. almost in every speech that was sort of a subtext. class warfare to a high tee gree. >> charlie:even though welt thy democrats on the stage. >> figment in the sky boxes. >> if you ask what the obama people are afraid of. i've been struck what they're not afraid of. issues that obama and democrats used to treat very defensively like an unexploded bomb. tossing the bomb back and forth. doesn't bother tomorrow talk openly for equal rights. several speeches have mentioned. abortion issues used to be very under the table. they have been very explicit in saying one of the dividing lines

is willingness to fight for women's reproductive rights. >> charlie:because they think those issues their time as come? >> i'm not sure it's that or the election is so divided and really the question of this election is, which side are you on? on the side of people like us or people like them? >> but democrats used to think they succeeded by sort of blurring those lines. that's what bill clinton did effectively. >> even barack obama. >> in 2008. this is not a 2008 style election but 2004, which side are you on. >> charlie:can you make an argument that they have a very different idea of where america is and where it's going, that the president believes and his team when they look at the reality of america today the increasing numbers of hispanics, increasing, the demographic picture of america, it's on

their side? >> they think that. >> and a lot republicans. a lot of smartest republicans extra teejist not this one but long term worry about that. >> charlie:republican party ends up a party of reflection of white america essentially. >> older whiter male america. you cannot put together a long-term winning party on that coalition. >> and mathematically they're right about that. >> charlie:i may have said this to you john, if ronald reagan was running and got the same percentages of hispanics and african americans asians perhaps he would lose because they have grown so significantly. >> we have to be careful saying things like that one reason politics is interesting all of us, nothing stands still. new politicians, come forward. arguments get made issues rise to the surface. i don't think the republicans are in for a long-term too many.

i grew up covering virginia. the idea virginia would be a swing state is stunning to me. the idea north carolina is swing state is surprising to even to you, charlie. there are no permanent line ntion politics. i think it's mistake feem in our business things as they exist now and extrapolate them too far in the future. >> charlie:is your interest and excitement you get from politics every bit as strong as it's always been? >> it is in the big picture. i think the character tion. people who are in politics, people i covered closely like bill clinton, the other characters that's what makings this business fascinating. so i still love that. i do think -- i share the view of a lot of journalist this particular campaign has been a grinding sullen remorseless affair not been a lot of fun. >> i think that's right.

i think there's not been a lot of joy in this campaign on either side and the voters seem disgusted by t it is a dynamic story and we don't know the full story and full evolution of barack obama. who would have thought he would have asked bill clinton to come prop him up. that shows you. >> only point i would make, charlie the purpose of it is not to give joy to reporters. we have a serious business. politics is get rg small and petty we have some power to elevate that and focus on what we think is important. >> charlie:are we doing that? >> we're not doing as well -- you push the rock up the hill. >> charlie:thank you, yon thank you i didn't have. thank you for joining us see you next time

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